Profili giuridici dell’aborto in Irlanda. Peculiarità e prospettive della vicenda irlandese alla luce della legge Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act (2013)

After several lively debates and judicial decisions, the Irish parliament passed a law on abortion in July 2013 Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act (2013) which, however, has not put an end to the discussion or calmed anxieties. The contribution, supported by extensive documentation, moves simultaneously on three levels: 1. examining the legal aspects (constitutional,referendums, legislation and judicial decisions) of abortion’s history in Ireland highlighting those that make that history unique compared to other European countries; 2. dealing with the question of the legal status of the human embryo into the Irish legal system regarding both abortion, and artificial insemination (widely practiced and legitimized by law); 3. offers interpretations and concrete prospects for protecting human life from the moment of fertilization in a context which, however, tends to deprive human life of protection in the first 14 days of life. One of us, the European citizens’ initiative, promoted on the basis of the Treaty of Lisbon, is presented as an extraordinary opportunity to play a role in limiting the possible negative tendencies of the law recently passed and to maintain awareness in society that human dignity is the same for all human beings. So everyone, from conception, is entitled to the right to life. In particular, One of us gives Irish citizens the great chance to confirm the same desire expressed in the referenda of 1983, 1992 and 2002 – “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn child” – by signing in great numbers the “One of Us” citizen’s initiative.